A Tactical Scheduling of Employees
by blinkingbrave
Summary: Robin is just the one who plans the restaurant shifts. Her eccentric coworkers make the job a little harder. FE:A drabble.


Robin's just the girl who does the restaurant scheduling. She learns very quickly that some people can work the same shifts and some will catch the burger joint on fire if placed together. Chrom is the one who never does wrong, perhaps because of his endearing smile, perhaps because he's the manager's brother. They go to the same university, and he charms all the girls with his powder blush. Lissa twirls and whirls her way through the store, oblivious to the dangers of skipping across spilled grease. Frederick follows after her, picking up the sugar packets she scatters as she bounces back with the newly filled container.

Sully slips on a packet one day. She doesn't dare to shoot Lissa evil glances because Lissa is the manager's sister. Instead she glowers at Virion while he flirts with all the female customers. Occasionally, Robin wonders if they are an item. Stahl walks in on them one day in the maintenance closet and is mildly horrified. Vaike then collects his dollar from Robin, Stahl, and Chrom, having won the 'when will Virion and Sully get together' betting pool as the only one who guessed they already were together.

Miriel sniffs at them from a safe distance. She won't actually approach them, because they all work in the grill and smell like grease and beef and too many eight hour shifts. She sends Sumia through the grill to get the store's lone broom and dustpan instead. Sumia is fearless, no matter how many times she trips carrying trays of food. Robin thinks there might be another waiter called Kellam, but she's not quite sure of that. Donnel insists he sees him some days, balancing his and Sumia's trays. Sumia insists the trays go missing and that the customers must somehow grab them themselves.

Lon'qu works in service, but Robin moves him into grill after his first week, after he refuses to serve the female customers. He will only work with her if she works farthest from him in the kitchen. Lon'qu is suspicious of Ricken, too. Ricken, however, is a boy. He explains this to Lon'qu many times, but his voice is too soft and Lon'qu is too far away. Maribelle is the first female worker to snap, threatening to kill Lon'qu with a spoon if he doesn't place the food laden trays in her waiting hands.

Panne finds the grill disgusting, but she works in it anyways, wrinkling her nose at the smell of simmering meat. One day, she catches Gaius pinching handfuls of the confectionary sugar that decorate the little pastries, delicate creations Cordelia slaves over. The pastries don't quite match the faded plastic of the restaurant booths. They're too delicate and pastel. Cordelia isn't though, and she smacks Gaius for stealing the sugar. Gregor laughs at his swollen cheek for three days before it finally heals.

Gregor's laughter is the only thing Robin understands. His English is broken and near intelligible. Only Nowi speaks his mother tongue. Nowi insists she's twenty-one and has travelled the world. Robin thinks her license is fake, but Libra believes her anyways. Libra believes everyone, even Tharja, who curses—not with swear words, like every worker at the store has done at least once—her customers in some dark tongue she claims will melt their eyeballs that night. The regulars come back with unmelted eyeballs. Libra nods sagely at Tharja's insistence that one day their eyeballs will melt out and then everyone will see.

Tharja gets the worst tips, but Anna gets the best. Anna takes tipping very seriously. One day, Olivia is too slow delivering food to one of her tables, and Anna simply sweeps in and takes the tray. She doesn't split the tip. Olivia is too shy to ask about it, but Cherche keeps a very close eye on her own tables after that. Cherche is one of the more diligent workers, but she also feeds the cats outside the store hamburger patties. Robin hears stories but ignores them because she hasn't actually seen Cherche feed the cats.

Henry does all the chopping. Robin wants to tell him that he really needs to do more than just chop the meats, fruits, and vegetables, but he just looks so happy with the silvery blade and chopping board, Robin can't bring herself to do that either. Say'ri sharpens the blade one day, and Henry doubles his chopping speed. Say'ri devotes her shift to helping her co-workers. Robin explains to her one day that she really needs to tend to the customers, but Say'ri trails after Tiki anyways, helping her balance trays. Tiki spends her shift half-asleep, because she spends too many nights up too late doing grad school work. Robin concedes defeat and begins to schedule Say'ri and Tiki as a unit.

Basilio and Flavia smoke in the kitchen, hazy tendrils blending with the steam rising from the sizzling patties. They think Robin doesn't know as they hunch over the grill, hastily crushing the cigarette butt they had been passing between the two of them under a heel. Once, Basilio and Flavia go for the cigarette at the same time, and Basilio stomps on Flavia's foot. Flavia gives him an affectionate black eye.

When she writes the schedules, Robin is the only one who can work on anyone's shift, because, no matter their quirks, she likes all of them.

* * *

**I was told doing a little warm up before your main writing was a good writing habit to get into... I dunno if I'll post all of 'em, but I was particularly in love with this idea.**

**Well, whatever. R&R?**


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